BRUSSELS (DPA) – The European Union’s executive arm fined Sanrio, the Japanese company behind the popular Hello Kitty brand, €6.2 million (S$9.5 million) on Tuesday (July 9) for restricting sales within the bloc’s single market.

Sanrio designs, licenses, produces and sells products featuring Hello Kitty, “an anthropomorphic cat girl also known by her full name Kitty White” and other popular characters such as My Melody, Little Twin Stars, Keroppi and Chococat, the European Commission wrote.

It also holds the intellectual property rights to the Mr Men and Little Miss characters. Merchandising products range from mugs, bags and stationery through to toys, which all bear images protected by trademarks or copyright.

The commission launched a probe in 2017 into Sanrio’s licensing and distribution products, alongside separate investigations into Nike and Universal Studios.

It found on Tuesday that Sanrio had imposed direct and indirect restrictions, banning or discouraging traders from selling their merchandise in other EU countries than their own, contrary to the rules of the bloc’s single market.

“Today’s decision confirms that traders who sell licensed products cannot be prevented from selling products in a different country,” EU Trade Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

“Consumers, whether they are buying a Hello Kitty mug or a Chococat toy, can now take full advantage of one of the main benefits of the single market: the ability to shop around Europe for the best deals,” she added.

Nike was fined €12.5 million in March for similar restrictive practices, while the investigation into Universal Studios is still ongoing.

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